Electrical connector



NOV- 22, 1949 w. HUPPERT ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR Filed Deo.

INVENTOR Muff/W /afwr.

ATTORN EY Patented Nov. 22, 1949 UNITED( STATES FTENT FFICE ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR William Huppert, New York, N. Y.

Application December 14, 1944, Serial No. 568,094

(CLIN- 334) 3 Claims. 1 J This'inventionrelates to anelectr'ical connector, andmore particularly toan improved outlet. of the type -s'hownin my Patents @Nos 1,818,804 and 2,316,167, suchas commonlyfused for making electrical connectionsl betweeny conductingv wires or cords and a plurality of plugs, as well as for other purposes in the electrical art.

Among the objects of the invention are to provide-a connectoror-outlet Afor `use 'with three or more conventionalplugs, preferably three, which i is of minimum height'andf length, consists of only a few simple parts that are linexpensive to make andweasy to assemb1e,that vaifords a good and reliableelectrical'. connection between the plug blades and the contact -ngers and in which the contact members arel rmly held in proper position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the'- following description` thereof. The drawings show the invention embodied in an outlet of the kind known in the trade as a convenience outlet but it may be applied to other forms of connectors, such for instance as taps.-

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side View of an outlet: with three plugs indicated in phantom;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan View, on4 an--enlarged scale, with the bottom closure plate mostly broken away;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectionY on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, the bottom plate vbeing partly broken;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section on the lined-4 of Fig, 3 with the bottom plate part-ly broken; and

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal vertical section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2.

The outlet comprises in general only four simple and easily assembled parts, namely,2, housing Il), two similar contact members'II, and a detachable bottom closure plate I2. The outlet may be detachably `fastened to a wooden base-board or other supporting surface i3 by a screw I4 or..

the like.

The housing I is preferably molded in one piece of Bakelite or lother suitable insulatingy material, and it is so designed that it may be formed by a straight-line or `vertical moldingoperation in a.

two part mold without any cores to pull. Its exterior contour has a flat top face I 5, two inclined flat faces I6, end walls I'Land side walls I8. The faces I and I6 each have a pair of slots I9 leading into interior chambers in which the congitudinally between the slots to facilitateproper placement of the plug-blades in the slots.

Theouter contour of the housing viewed lengthwise is characterized by the fact that it is so Shaped or formed that all of its faces are tangential or substantially tangential to an inscribed semi-elliptical curve `whose minor axis equals the height and whose major axis equals thelength of the housing. This form provides astructure of lminimum height and length to accommodate the desirednumber of plugs. While the particular structure illustrated and described herein is intended for use with three plugs it may be modifiedfor use with more thanthree. The fact that the housing is of minimum height and length t0 accommodate the desired number of plugs is an important feature not only from the standpoint of compactness but also from those of economy of. material and cost of production.

The contact members II each consist of a, terminal portion 24 and diverging lingers or arms 25. They may be made of one piece of suitable metal in the manner of my Patent No. 2,2A8,675, or of more than one piece and in any other man- As illustrated, the terminal position 24 is formed with :teeth 25 for making electrical contact with the lead or conducting wires (not shown) a1- though conventional binding screws may be used instead. For that purpose the housing maybe formed with cavities 2l to receive the ends of such screws.

The chambers 20, in which the fingers 25 of the contact members are located, are dened by the spaced, parallel, longitudinal interior walls 28 and 29. The terminal portion 2 of each contact member seats on a correspondingly shaped cradle 30, one at each side of the center of the housing. As shown, each cradle may have a ilat horizontal `portion 3| and two inclined lateral portions 32.

In assembly, the Contact members are placed in the housing with their terminal portions 2 tting on the cradles 3B and their fingers 25 extending into the chambers 2d in position to make .contact Iwith the blades of the plugs when they are inserted in the slots. Vertical ribs or projections 33 may be provided to facilitate proper'placement of the contact members during assembly and to prevent them from moving when inserted in place.

After the parts are assembled, the bottom plate I2 is placed in position. Abutments Sii may be formed in four corners of the housing against which the plate rests. On reference to Fig. 3 it will be seen that the two inclined contact fingers may be formed with straight Vlower edges 35 that bear on the inner surface of the plate to afford additional support of said nngers. An opening 36 extending vertically through they center of the housing, and a corresponding opening 31 in the bottom plate, permit of passage of the fastening screw I4.

The housing has an opening 38 in one or both of its end walls for the lead or conducting wires, which wires make contact with the terminal portions of the contact members. provided, one at each side of each terminal portion, to guide the conductors into proper position for contact with the terminal portions, which posts may extend into openings or recesses 40 in the bottom plate, as described in my Patent 2,316,167.

It is to be noted, as illustrated in Fig. 1, that when the several plugs are attached to the outlet the lower ends of the inserted blades come closely together thus providing a very compact structure and permitting of use of a housing of minimum length to accommodate at least three plugs. It will also be seen that the housing is so designed that as the plugs 22 are being mounted on the inclined faces l the inner ends of their blades 2| will strike angularly against and slide upon the inner face of the closure plate I2 and will thus be guided into proper relation to make good electrical contact with the inclined contact fingers 25 when the blades are fully inserted.

The housing is formed with interior vertical walls or surfaces 4I, d2 and inclined surfaces 43 adjacent to the blade receiving openings i9. This construction permits of molding the housing in one piece with a two part mold and without any cores to pull. In assembly, these surfaces serve to assist in guiding the contact fingers into proper position in relation to the blade receiving openings, and in use they serve to prevent the fingers from being accidently displaced by the blades upon their insertion into the housing. For instance, on referring to Fig. 3 it will be seen that the center contact finger is conined between the vertical surfaces 4i, and that the lower corners of the two inclined Contact ngers come very close to the vertical surfaces 62. Consequently should either of these two fingers tend to be driven downward out of line by and with the plug-blades such tendency would be limited to an unobjectionable extent by the proximate surfaces 42.

The length of the housing IG is greater than twice its height, and the distance from the center ci the blade receiving slots or openings I9 in the top face l5 to the center of the detachable bottom closure plate l2 is less than the corresponding distance from the slots or openings in the lateral inclined faces i6. Furthermore, the two inclined contact iingers 25 are each preferably longer than the middle or vertical finger.

The free ends of the contact ngers are preferably curved slightly inward as shown. While in the drawings the contact fingers, for clearness of illustration, are shown spaced a short distance from the ribs 33, it is to be understood that in practice the ribs may be designed to lie directly against the contact iingers to assist in holding the contact members in place as hereinbefore described.

Various modifications in the details of construction herein described and illustrated in the drawings may be made by those skilled in the art within the scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

What I claim is:

l. An electrical connector for reception of a plurality of electrical plugs, comprising a housing of insulating material having openings for in- Posts 39 may besertion of the plug blades, a plurality of contact members located within said housing, each coritact member having a terminal portion and a plurality of diverging spring fingers extending from the terminal portion in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the terminal portion and leading from said portion toward the blade receiving openings, the two outer fingers extending at an angle to each other, and projections within the housing that bear against the spring fingers adjacent to their connection with the terminal portion to clamp the contact members firmly in place by spring tension between said projections and the adjacent inner surface of an exterior wall of the housing.

2. An electrical connector for reception of a plurality of electrical plugs, comprising a housing of insulating material having openings for insertion of the plug blades, a plurality oi contact members disposed in the housing, each contact member having a terminal portion and a plurality of diverging spring fingers extending from the terminal portion in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of said terminal portion and leading from said portion toward the blade receiving openings, the two outer fingers extending at an angle to each other and having fiared free ends, and projections within the housing that bear against said outer spring fingers adjacent to their connection with the terminal por- Vtion to clamp the contact members firmly in place by spring tension between said projections and the adjacent inner surface of an exterior wall of the housing, the angle between the two outer fingers being such that the flared ends of the blades will clear the projections on insertion of the blades in the housing.

3. An electrical connector for reception of a plurality of electrical plugs, comprising a housing of insulating material having openings for insertion of the plug blades, a plurality of contact members within the housing, each contact member having a terminal portion and a plurality of diverging spring fingers extending from the terminal portion in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of said terminal portion and leading from said portion toward the blade receiving openings, the two outer ngers extending at an angle to each other, projections within the housing that bear against said outer spring fingers adjacent to their connection with the terminal portion to clamp the contact members firmly in place by spring tension between said projections and the adjacent inner surface of an exterior wall of the housing, and posts within the housing at opposite sides of the terminal portion between which posts the terminalZ portion is located and held.

WILLIAM HU PPERT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the iile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS- 

